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Baghdad regains control in oil disputes

Maliki’s government is using harsh tactics to reassert itself against Kurdistan’s increasingly autonomous oil policy, while the core disputes remain unresolved. Iraqi central government authorities have regained leverage in their long-standing oil disputes with the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).Just a few months ago, the KRG seemed poised to solidify the independence of its oil sector by sending crude through its new pipeline to the Turkish border. But those plans have been complicated both by scandals swirling around Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and by a newly assertive government in Baghdad.As more than 1.3 mill… This content is for registered users. Please login to continue. If you are not a registered user, you may purchase a subscription or sign up for a free trial .

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Suicide attack in Baghdad cafe kills 12 people

A suicide bomber struck inside a Baghdad cafe overnight where customers were watching a football game on TV, killing at least 12 people and wounding 38, Iraqi officials said Thursday. The attack in the western Washash neighborhood took place late on Wednesday night, two police officers said. The bomber had mingled with the cafe crowd and set off his explosives-laden belt as they watched the game. A medical official confirmed the casualty figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk to the media. Iraq has been struck by a surge in violence unseen since 2007, relentless attacks that have become the Shiite-led government’s most serious challenge. Violence has spiked since last April, when security forces cracked down on a Sunni protest camp north of Baghdad in clashes that left 45 dead. Scores of people have been killed in the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Israeli Strikes on Syrian Army Sites Raise Concern About Entanglement

Israeli airstrikes against several Syrian Army positions across the decades-old cease-fire line in the Golan Heights on Wednesday came as a specific response to a bomb attack against Israeli forces along the frontier a day earlier, according to Israeli officials. But for many here, the unusually sharp exchange signaled the possibility of a broader Israeli slide into regional turmoil. The airstrikes, against a Syrian Army training facility, a military headquarters and artillery batteries, were the first in Syrian territory that Israel has openly acknowledged since the Syrian civil war began three years ago. The bombing on Tuesday that prompted the strikes was the first to cause Israeli casualties, wounding four soldiers, one severely. Both events raised the stakes along a frontier that has been largely quiet for […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Two Officers Killed by Militants, Egypt Says

Islamist militants killed an Egyptian brigadier general and a colonel in an early-morning gun battle in the Nile Delta province of Qalyubeya, the Interior Ministry said Wednesday. The killings followed the shooting deaths of six military conscripts over the weekend on the streets of Cairo, in an escalation of attacks on security forces after a lull in the violence over the past month. Islamist extremists have killed hundreds of military service members and police officers in retaliation for the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood last summer. Militants stunned Egypt in late January with a succession of high-profile attacks: a deadly car bombing at the gates of the Egyptian security headquarters in Cairo, the assassination of a senior Interior Ministry official on the streets of the capital, and the shooting down of a military helicopter in northern Sinai. In February, terrorists blew up a […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Nigeria: NNPC – Nigeria Lost 109.5 Million Barrels of Oil in 2013

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said Tuesday that Nigeria lost 300,000 barrels of crude oil per day or 109.50 million barrels in 2013 from severe attacks on critical export pipelines. The NNPC Group Managing Director (GMD), Mr. Andrew Yakubu, gave the figures at the ongoing Nigeria Oil and Gas conference in Abuja, reported the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN). Yakubu said incessant vandalism of crude oil export pipelines and domestic crude oil and petroleum product pipelines impacted negatively on the economy. According to him, what Nigeria lost in 2013 was equivalent to the total output of Equatorial Guinea and larger than the entire production of Ghana, Congo Brazzaville, Cameroun and Gabon. Yakubu said the shut-ins of such significant production had prompted the federal government to take some drastic actions to tackle the […]

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Air Pollution May Cause Genetic Harm in Kids, China Study Finds

Air pollution led to genetic changes that may have sapped learning skills in children whose mothers were exposed to a Chinese coal-fired power plant before it was shuttered a decade ago, researchers found. Babies born in the southwestern Tongliang county just before the plant was shut in 2004 had significantly lower levels of a protein crucial to brain development in their cord blood than those conceived later, a March 19 report in the Plos One journal said. They also had poorer learning and memory skills when tested at age two, the study by Columbia University and Chongqing Medical University found. […]

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Sinopec Is in Talks to Buy Up to 15% Stake in Petronas LNG Project

Sinopec’s logo at its headquarters in Beijing. The Chinese company is in talks to buy a stake in a LNG project in Canada. Corp. is in talks with Malaysia’s Petroliam Nasional Bhd. to buy up to 15% of a liquefied-natural-gas project on Canada’s western coast, people familiar with the matter said Wednesday. The Pacific Northwest LNG project is an export terminal planned for an undeveloped island in northern British Columbia, which was acquired by Petronas in 2012 as part of its 5.5 billion Canadian dollar (US$4.9 billion) purchase of Canada’s Progress Energy Resources Corp. The terminal could begin operating as soon as 2018 and will have the capacity to export 12 million metric tons of LNG a year. Petronas has been selling stakes in Pacific Northwest LNG’s reserves and output to raise funds for its development, which could cost as much as C$11 billion. The company has sold 10% […]

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CNPC JV Starts Shale Gas Development in Sichuan

A joint venture of China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) and domestic companies has started drilling its first shale gas well in the southwest Sichuan province, CNPC said on Wednesday. Sichuan Changning Natural Gas Development Co last week started drilling the Changning H3-6 well in Changning block and is expected to finish drilling in 70 days, CNPC said on its website (news.cnpc.com.cn). Sichuan Changning Natural Gas Development Co was founded in Dec 2013 by CNPC, Sichuan Energy Investment Co, Yibin State Assets Operation Co and a Beijing investment fund. The company is China’s first joint venture by an oil major and domestic companies dedicated for shale gas development, it said. CNPC, parent of PetroChina , plans to drill some 50 shale gas wells in Changning block this year. Shale gas production in Changning block is expected to be 1.0 billion cubic metres in 2015, it […]

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Ford installing GE WattStation chargers, charging network at facilities

Ford Motor Company, in conjunction with GE, will supply electric vehicle charging stations at Ford facilities nationwide, beginning with facilities in and around its headquarters. Ford will begin installing the GE WattStation Level 2 charging stations across its North American campuses, developing a workplace charging network at nearly every Ford facility in the United States and Canada. Ford now offers three plug-in vehicles: the battery electric Focus Electric, and the C-MAX Energi and Fusion Energi plug-in hybrids. Ford Fusion Energi and C-MAX Energi drivers typically make three of their four daily trips in all-electric mode, based on data from Ford’s MyFord Mobile app. Ford estimates that its customers now have logged 65 million all-electric miles, increasing at a rate of 290,000 electric miles per day. (MyFord Mobile is complimentary for five years from the vehicle sale date as recorded by the dealer. Subscriptions fees apply after five years. MyFord […]

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BP Is Highest Bidder for 24 Gulf of Mexico Blocks

PLC appeared to win new drilling rights in the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday, less than a week after a federal ban was lifted that kept the company from doing business with the U.S. government for 16 months. London-based BP was the high bidder on 24 oil and gas blocks offshore out of 31 properties it pursued in the auction. The company will pay $41.6 million for new access to explore in U.S. waters off the coasts of Louisiana and Alabama. The deal marks the first time since November 2012 that BP has been able to expand its offshore drilling sites in the Gulf. The Environmental Protection Agency banned BP from getting any new government contracts, including offshore leases and jet fuel supply agreements with the military, in the wake of the company’s guilty plea to several criminal charges related to its deadly 2010 Deepwater Horizon rig explosion and […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple